The Kirk Herbstreit Situation Exposes a Grey Area in College Football
In today's college football, it's hard to find a bigger name than Kirk Herbstreit. The former Ohio State quarterback is a founding member of ESPN's landmark show College GameDay and has called every national championship game in the College Football Playoff era.
When it's all said and done, he'll be remembered among Keith Jackson, Verne Lundquist, and Lee Corso as a titan of the industry. With that said, he hasn't done a lot to endear himself to college football fanbases over the past few months.
Jan 9, 2023; Inglewood, CA, USA; ESPN football analyst Kirk Herbstreit during the TCU Horned Frogs game against the Georgia Bulldogs during the CFP national championship game at SoFi Stadium.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Just a couple of months ago, Herbstreit was one of the loudest voices in calling for 12-1 Alabama to be included in the CFP field ahead of 13-0 Florida State. He responded to a fan on X who asked him why he would put a one-loss team ahead of the undefeated 'Noles.
"Because Alabama is BETTER!! Period!" responded Herbsreit. "So is Texas. So is Michigan. So is Washington. So is Oregon. So is Georgia. I watch 10-15 games a week live from September-early December. I think I’m allowed to have an opinion on who I think is BETTER!! If FSU doesn’t like [it is not] "The BEST 4" tell the conference commissioners to change the protocol to "MOST DESERVING." Until then I and everyone else is certainly is allowed to give an opinion in a subjective discussion!! Don’t like it-change it."
Now, the father of Dylan Raiola, the five-star quarterback who de-committed from Georgia and flipped to Nebraska just before the Early Signing Period in December, said that Kirk Herbstreit encouraged his son to flip from the Bulldogs to the Huskers.
"I'll bring up one guy's name," said Dominic Raiola in an interview with Rivals. "His name is Kirk Herbstreit. When he saw the smoke about Dylan entertaining Nebraska, he was like call me, he was like 'Dude if this is true, he's gotta do it.' His affinity for Nebraska, for a guy like that to tell me and get behind me, you know I knew he needed to do it, but I wasn't going to sit here and say you need to go change that place or be a part of the change of that place. So when Kirk told me that, you know I was like man, I had other coaches reach and say the place is special and coach Rhule is a special leader."
Georgia fans have been torching Herbstreit on social media following the revelation. It certainly has raised some questions with some fans calling for ESPN to punish the broadcaster for influencing the recruiting of a prospect. He responded to the story today on the Paul Finebaum Show.
Did he actually do anything wrong? It's a grey area. So many media personalities are labeled "journalists" incorrectly. Herbstreit isn't a journalist. Journalists grind for information and work to present it to the public without any bias, allowing people to draw their own conclusions from the information provided by said journalist.
The category Herbstreit, and most personalities you see on television, fall into is "analyst". Like everyone else, he consumes the information in front of him, watching games, reading articles, talking to players and coaches, and forming his opinions and takes that he then presents. And he does it better than most.
Kirk Herbstreit didn't violate any sacred journalistic standards because he does not hold the role of journalist. He is a media personality. He's never hidden his love of the Ohio State program he played for. If he had encouraged a recruit to attend Ohio State instead of Nebraska, would we have been as surprised? Certainly not. Certainly, former Georgia players have told recruits that going to Georgia is in their best interest, no? Tim Tebow gator chomps, Cole Cubelic says "War Eagle", it's just part of having former players in broadcasting.
In retrospect, the grey area is pretty clear; words and titles mean things. Before you jump on someone for violating journalistic standards, make sure they're a journalist first.
